A Very English Hangman

Albert Pierrepoint's hanging record reads like a Who's Who of mid-twentieth century convicts: he was the man that hanged Ruth Ellis, Lord Haw Haw, Derek Bentley and the Belsen Nazi war criminals. For him, hanging was a remote and skilled mystery, a sacred craft,' but one that would be abolished in his lifetime. The story of his life is a fascinating insight into the changing face of Britain in the twentieth century.